Starting a doctor who time line marathon with this seems silly, but with the tagline of "what if doctor who was never made?" it just makes sense to put it first.  timeline number code U0.0

This is my first proper written out review so please bare with me :)

Deadline is the 5th unbound audio by big finish it was releases in September 2003. It was written by Robert Shearman and directed by Nicholas Briggs.

Deadline is all about a writer called Martin, who is now an old man and struggles with his passion as he is now an older man in a care home. He starts to remember back 40 years ago to his magnum-opus that was doctor who.

lets start with the cast of characters:

Derek Jacobi plays the troubled writer, Martin. He neglected his wives and son who he walked out on because he found them boring, which shows how arrogant of a man he is. Derek plays the role wonderfully, I was hanging on his every word, as we slowly explored his mind.

Genevieve Swallow plays Susan, doctor who's granddaughter from the mind of Martin. Genevieve does an amazing job as performing Susan you truly believe this is a child. Its also A sinister and haunting Performance like a siren pulling Martin ever closer.

Peter Forbes plays Philip, who is a deeply sorrowful character who believes his upbringing lead to his broken home. We slowly find out hes been keeping secrets from his father, Martin.

Jacqueline King plays Mrs wright who happens to be a spiteful, bubbly character due to a lonely past. ill go into it more in the back half of the review. shes so interesting played wonderfully by Jacqueline, I didn't know weather to believe a word she said.

Ian Brooker played Sydney who captured the hyper fixated fan so nicely honestly one of the funniest moments in the bleak story.

and Adam Manning who plays tom, Martins grandson I'll go more into there meeting later but Adam plays the role perfectly to how A kid from 2003 acted.

On to the story:

We start off with a dream of Martins about writing doctor who, when he is woken up by Philip. Philip is desperate for A father connection he lies about his mothers death as an excuse to see him. I think just shows how far everyone goes out of there way to not go near Martin, after he left his wife n child. Philip even hides his grandson away from Martin, trying to keep his family separate from his dad.

We have a fan come in the next day. Who martin later dreams about in his story of doctor who as the villian. his son is Ian, his nurse is Mrs Wright and Susan represents his ex wife. In these dream scenes theirs always a theme about Susan never wanting doctor who to leave her, Especially when Philip reveals he has a son he can only see twice a month.

I love how in-depth and character focused this piece is. I was really on edge and hooked on what was happening, I feel the music helped perfectly for this its very atmospheric to the story and quite haunting.

Going back to the character of Mrs Wright who always looked after Martin and was very interested in his writing. Robert Shearman really sew the seeds of hre potentially liking Martin, however we find out that's not the case.

In the scene of Mrs Wright and Martin's where Mrs Wright is talking bout her past and is so rightfully  spiteful it led to my favourite scene where Martin got the wrong idea and kissed her, leading too a huge blow up. The audio plays so many mind games with you like this its amazing.

In the next scene with Susan, Doctor Who is describing how Ian and Mrs Wright died to her, possibly symbolising how there dead to Martin. Susan is a very interesting characterisation here, trying to entice Martin into this fake world, to stay with her. This a huge parallel to his ex wife how she was desperate for him to stay. Which is a huge reveal near the back end of the story. Martin declines however cause he knows hes going to see Tom who is the last person who he has a chance with in the real world.

when tom comes to visit is becomes a quite sad encounter for Martin, as Tom seems to be more interested in a game then him. which leads to Martin trying to convince Tom he can travel in time leading to tom getting hit. Which leads to all the characters coming in and the confused Martin getting in the wardrobe.

Now this, is one of my favourite endings from the unbound series. Martin chooses to stay in his delusions and follow Susan into the unknown, the audience is left wondering, was it all real or was it all in the mind of an old man.
Overall this is hands down a must listen to any doctor who fan, especially as the 60th is coming up, Its very much an anniversary feel of story. The cast are excellent, the music is enchanting in a horror way and theirs a sprinkle of comedy in there too